


Vanishing Point

by prairiecrow



Series: Geometry [17]
Category: Knight Rider (1982), Torchwood
Genre: Alien Culture, Androids, Angst, Betrayal, Confrontations, Established Relationship, Hurt Ianto Jones, Ianto Will Do Anything For Jack, Ianto is Triggered by Robots, Jack Has Other Plans, Leadership, M/M, Marriage Proposal, POV Ianto Jones, Political Suicide, Politics, Public Claiming, Self-Sacrifice, Trans-Dimensional Travel, threat of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-09
Updated: 2014-07-11
Packaged: 2018-02-08 05:13:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1927914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prairiecrow/pseuds/prairiecrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A challenge. A pledge. A proposal that shocks everybody, including Ianto Jones and almost every politician in the Mechan Coalition. KITT is the First Intelligence, the Father of the Mechan species — but the loyalty of his people will only go so far. Has Jack just thrown him to the wolves?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_He was with Jack._ Therefore, he was as safe as he was ever likely to get in this alien dimension. Ianto had taken comfort in that awareness many times since coming through the Window to KITT's home reality; nevertheless, his heartbeat accelerated sharply as four beautifully dressed Mechan courtiers disengaged from the crowd around them and moved in, as if answering the silent summons of the tall dark figure who'd just stepped into Jack's path, blocking their progress across the grand marble lobby of the Council Hall. It took Ianto a couple of seconds to recognize her — Tiaro, KITT had called her, a minor functionary in the Herdsman's entourage — but her swaggering air was unmistakeable, and although her eyes were utterly inhuman fields of emerald green lit by circlets of white the scorn and aggressiveness they conveyed was clear to be felt. 

Ianto caught himself taking a reflexive step closer to Jack's right side as the four closed in around them at a distance of about four metres, forming the lower corners of a five-pointed star with Tairo at the dominant point. He knew they were only machines, but he'd also seen what KITT was capable of — and at this particular moment, he couldn't help but notice their similarity to a pack of wolves circling their prey. 

Jack had come to a halt, but his own eyes were narrowed dangerously. "Something I can help you with?" he drawled. The short hairs on Ianto's nape prickled erect at the undercurrent of menace.

"What are you doing here, _marlo poi?_ " The Mechan's voice was accented by sharp-clipped vowels and consonants almost clicked off that artificial tongue. "This is a Mechan Council — not for the likes of _you_."

Jack glanced round, taking in the seventy or so androids on the ground level, then sweeping his gaze upward to the second floor galleries on either side — another hundred up there, easily. Too many of those bright eyes were now turned in his direction, the murmur of general conversation rapidly fading away. Jack's voice carried easily: "Really? Funny, I didn't see any signs on the way in: _No Humans Allowed._ "

Tiaro sneered. "Rest assured, a wolf would have been shot on sight. Fortunately for you, we all know a lap dog when we see it."

Jack's smile was wolfish enough for Ianto's tastes. "Takes one to know one, I guess. Now, if you'll excuse me —"

He started forward again, angling to pass around Tiaro's left side. Ianto was right on his heels, but instantly the four Mechan moved in closer, while Tiaro spread her elegant arms mockingly. "And where do you think you're going, cur?"

Jack stopped so short that Ianto almost ran into him. All eyes were on them now, the weight of silent implacable disapproval pressing in on all sides. Warm sweat broke out on Ianto's brow: he'd already had more than enough of robots for one lifetime ( _Lisa, oh God!_ ) and to be here now, surrounded by so many… the lobby was vast, its ceiling a pale high-vaulted dome adorned with scenes of celestial beauty, but Ianto was suddenly finding it hard to breathe. 

"I don't see how that's any concern of yours," Jack was saying. His hands were still in the pockets of his greatcoat, but Ianto knew his body too well to be fooled by appearances: he could feel the tension gathering in Jack's muscles, gearing him up for an attack even though neither of them had been allowed to bring weapons with them. If Tairo suddenly tired of words —

KITT had many allies here. He also had many enemies, probably more than he had friends: so many bodies, everywhere, steel-boned and with no blood to shed. Ianto had seen KITT in battle enough times to know how quick and agile Mechans were: these ones had good reason to hate Humans on sight, and they could surge in like the sea, leap from the balcony down upon Jack's head, and tear two human bodies to bloody gibbets in a bare handful of seconds. Ianto's bowels turned to water at the thought, and for an instant he was sure he couldn't control it, that he was going to shit himself right here and that it would be the sign of Human weakness that triggered the savage mass frenzy of loathing —

"Isn't it?" Tairo was still talking, her gaze locked with Jack's. "The Black General is among equals here — or among his Children, at least, who love and serve him far better than a beast ever could. And he is attending to matters far beyond the purview of mere cattle. So why don't you turn around and take yourself back to your pasture, before we call someone to put a halter on you and drag you away?"

Jack looked at her for a cold level second — and then, to Ianto's surprise, he emitted a bright bark of laughter. "For your information, he _called_ us here. Why don't you check the Wi and see for yourself?" He gave Tairo a count of two full seconds before continuing: "Now if I were you, I'd get out of our way before —"

The circlets of radiance in Tairo's eyes flared to blazing brilliance. "Fool!" she snarled, an expression at once so Human and so unnaturally twisted that Ianto's fear spiked white-hot with the vision of those bright teeth ripping out Jack's throat. "The First Intelligence has better things to do than waste his valuable time with the likes of you!" She took a step forward, as did her henchmen, and Ianto instinctively caught hold of Jack's forearm. Jack stood his ground, and her eyes narrowed viciously, her right hand going to the empty ceremonial scabbard on her left hip while her voice fell to an icy hiss, clear to be heard in the now-silent chamber: "Who, exactly, do you think you are? Let me tell you, dullard: you are a bit of meat that the General amuses himself with in between attending to his sacred duties — a saucy scrap of flesh, nothing more. Now get you gone, slut, before I pick you up with my own two hands and —"

" _What_ ," came a tenor roar from the upper gallery to Ianto's left, "is the _meaning_ of this?"

Tiaro's expression shifted from malice to shock in a splintered second. She looked sharply toward the cry, snatching her right hand away from her scabbard as if burned — but too late. Wide ebony eyes illuminated by bright crimson were glaring down at her from the balcony railing, framed by a pale delicate face surmounted by a shock of close-cropped blond hair… and then KITT had turned and was striding toward the wide curving stairway that led to the ground level, his slim black-clad body practically vibrating with the visible force of his outrage. The Mechan crowd, friends and enemies alike, parted before him like the Red Sea before Moses, and nobody said a word as he swept down the stairs, the clatter of his gleaming military boots on marble the loudest sound in all that hush of avidly watching silicon and steel.

Ianto knew that thunder and lightning were about to break over all their heads — but he also knew that he was utterly powerless to stop it. All he could do was swallow his fear, and watch, and hope that this situation wouldn't culminate in rampant bloodshed. 


	2. Chapter 2

Ianto's hand was still clamped onto Jack's forearm. With an effort of will he loosened his fingers and let his hand drop stiffly to his side, watching Jack closely the while. The Captain flashed him a quick glance, a quirk of a smile and a wink before turning in place to face the approaching General, so Ianto turned too, trying to control the surge of dread provoked by all those bright inhuman eyes focussed on their position…

… but Jack couldn't have appeared calmer. He was watching KITT with a wider smile, apparently not at all concerned by the fury his lover was radiating. Tiaro's henchmen evidently had different feelings on the matter: they all took a couple of conspicuous steps away from the Humans, creating an empty space in the midst of the crowd that framed Jack, Ianto, and the unfortunate —

"Tiaro!" KITT snapped as he strode into the cleared circle of marble floor, coming to an abrupt halt about twenty paces in front of his organic friends. He settled his black-gloved hands on his hips, his gaze barely flickering over Jack and Ianto, an up-and-down scan to make sure they hadn't been harmed, before focussing between them and past them like a laser beam. "Explain yourself — immediately!"

Ianto didn't quite dare glance back over his shoulder, but he could clearly hear the ingratiating note in the Mechan's voice, along with more than a trace of fear. "General, we — these Humans barged in without being properly announced, we only sought to —"

"They came," KITT interrupted coldly, "because I invited them here." Which was perfectly true, but what KITT wasn't saying was that Jack had been asked to come by in the early evening, almost six hours from now, to escort KITT to dinner — Ianto knew that particular detail because he'd been with Jack, between the sheets, when the vidwindow message had come through. Jack had lit up as he read the text, then bounced out of bed and insisted on going to the Council Hall immediately, although he hadn't said why. All he'd offered Ianto was an invitation: _Wanna come with?_ And Ianto, reluctant to cut their time together short, had agreed.

He was certainly wishing he'd declined the offer now. Although KITT could be easily irritated he wasn't given to episodes of intense anger, but when he was provoked to that point… well,  the air between KITT and Tiaro seemed on the verge of bursting into flame, and Jack and Ianto were caught in the middle. The ionic energy channels beneath KITT's skin, fine circuit traceries along the line of his jaw and in the hollows of his temples, were faintly glowing with blue radiance — he was currently clad in ebony from his jawline to his feet, but Ianto had no doubt that the channels all over his body were equally illuminated, a blatant display of emotional intensity.

Jack was still regarding KITT with that slight smile suggestive of both sexual heat and fond pride, while KITT cut Tiaro curtly short again: "Enough!" Tiaro shut her mouth with an almost audible snap. KITT glared at her a second longer, then raised his head to take in the silent Mechans around them with a slow commanding sweep of his gaze. His clear penetrating voice was loud enough to be audible to the edges of the wide marble hall: "Hear me, Agents of the Coalition! Captain Jack Harkness is my consort — I formally claim him as such, and he is not to be abused. If he comes to the Council, rest assured that he is here by my leave. I will _not_ suffer him to be interfered with, and he is to be escorted to me immediately. Is that clear?"

A low murmur, with notes of both assent and resentment: " _Yes, General…_ "

"Well, good!" His gaze settled on Jack for a moment, and Ianto thought he might be about to speak to them directly — but then he turned away from them both, to address his Mechan audience instead in a tone somewhat less stern. "I will admit that lately I have not been all that I could be for you, but with every block of memories I recover I am becoming more and more what you need me to be: the Black General, the Saviour of Sheyla Point, and above all, a Father to the Mechan nation." He spread his arms, opening his hands in surrender and appeal; the traceries of blue beneath his skin glowed with even deeper emotion. "In my core, I have never forgotten that it was by your grace that I was rescued, and that it was your diligent care which saved me from my own weaknesses. You have made me strong, and I have dedicated myself to using that strength on your behalf. Is it not so?" 

The hall was silent as the grave, the sea of faces both grim and expectant, and Ianto could clearly hear KITT draw a deep breath. "I will never abandon you, not as long as the Coalition faces an ongoing Human threat. You are my Children. How could I possibly walk away? No, my place is here, with you — and therefore, when Captain Harkness and his team return to their home dimension I will not be going with them. Did you really think —"

Another murmur rose and raced through the crowd. KITT overrode it easily. "— that I would betray the promises I made to you, once my memory was restored? No matter what the personal sacrifices involved?"

Ianto's heart was pounding in his breast all over again. This plan of KITT's was news to him, and judging by the sudden sharp intake of Jack's breath it was news to him too. Ianto hazarded a glance and found Jack scowling at KITT's back, his dark eyebrows drawn together ominously over flashing blue eyes. 

 _Twenty-six days._ That was how long remained until the next Window opened to Torchwood's home dimension, and then that Window would close for another seven thousand years. They'd be losing KITT forever, as far as they were concerned —

— everybody except Jack, who would still be alive when the Window came round again. But could he get through it? His wrist strap was damaged: they'd only gotten through this time because John Hart had shown up to lend a hand, and they were only going to get home again because John would take them back. In several millennia John would be as dead as the rest of them, his functional wrist strap probably lost… 

 _That's it, then._ Ianto swallowed against the surge of apprehension rising in his heart — but there was joy there, too. _He's leaving us. He's leaving_ ** _Jack_** _, and that means —_

It was a mean impulse, a selfish impulse, and he half-hated himself for it, but there it sat: _That means it'll be me and him again, the way it was in the beginning…_

He got no further, because as the whispering in the hall rose in volume, taking on elements of both amazement and disbelief, KITT took another step forward, another step away from Jack. He opened his arms a little wider and raised his pointed chin a half inch, opening his mouth to speak again —

— but Jack beat him to it. Jack stepped forward, removing his hands from his greatcoat's pockets to stand as tall and as broad as a Western gunfighter walking into a duel. He fixed his unblinking gaze between KITT's shoulder blades and spoke two words loudly and clearly over the whispered conversations, a declaration bold enough to be heard by every ear, human and inhuman alike:

"Marry me."

And for the first time in his life, Ianto experienced a silence that was truly deafening.


	3. Chapter 3

For two full heartbeats, nobody moved a hair. Then KITT lowered his arms and turned on his heel, slowly, the faint rasp and click of his bootsoles on marble the only sound in that cavernous space. All eyes were on Jack now, although KITT was the only one staring with his mouth slightly open. 

After another breathless moment KITT finally spoke, low and incredulous: "I beg your pardon?"

"Marry me," Jack repeated without a second's hesitation. His own boot heels clicked decisively as he crossed the fifteen or so feet that separated them, to take KITT's gloved hands in his own bare ones. Ianto stared, mystified and with a rapidly sinking heart, as he performed a series of actions that had the air of ritual about them: bringing KITT's right hand to his lips to kiss the leather-sheathed palm before pressing it to his lower belly, bestowing another kiss, and then laying it on his heart. Another kiss, and he guided KITT's fingers to his throat, a gesture eloquent of surrender. Another kiss, and he cupped KITT's hand in his own to cradle it against the curve of his clean-shaven jaw. "I have loved you well," he said in a velvet voice with hot steel beneath, "and I vow in the sight of all present that I will love you for as long as life endures. Delight of my body and joy of my heart, Morning Star and Soul That Never Dies, give yourself to me in the ineffable bond of the _khana karr_ , as I would give myself to you — now, and forevermore." 

In that vast audience of KITT's loyal allies and deadly enemies, Ianto wasn't the only one holding his breath. All those unblinking metallic eyes were glowing brighter than ever, and more than one face bore the fine radiant traceries that betrayed a heightened flow of internal energy: red and yellow, green and violet, but none of them KITT's unique shade of clear bright blue. Only KITT was displaying that particular signature of intense emotion, his face visible to Ianto over the solid masculine angle of Jack's shoulder, his wide eyes more red than black as he gazed up into Jack's face and visibly struggled for words.

"Captain," he said at last in a voice that strove to be calm and didn't quite succeed, "you have no idea what you're saying."

"I know exactly what I'm saying." Jack was looking at him as if he was the only thing that existed, as if the Council Hall were completely empty around them, but Ianto had no doubt that he was keenly aware of their audience. He'd always been a consummate showman. "The _khana karr_ will connect us at every level — body, heart, mind and spirit. No power in existence will be capable of separating us, and even with the whole of the galaxy between us we'll still be able to hear the softest whispers of each other's souls." He released KITT's left hand to move in even closer, to cup KITT's face in broad gentle hands and breathe against his lips: "We'll belong to each other, forever, no matter who else we take to our beds or who we choose to love for a season. The universe can disintegrate around us, but we…" Ianto could hear the smile in his voice, wide and wondering. " _We_ will endure. Together in every way that matters."

For a moment KITT was silent; to Ianto, the pause seemed to last forever. When he spoke his tone was softer, but skeptical: "Evidently you _do_ know what you're saying."

"So." He tipped his chin up with a warm smile of challenge. "What do _you_ say?"

KITT replied in kind, with more than a trace of waspishness: "I say that last I heard, you were planning to go back to your home dimension."

A casual shrug of strong shoulders inside that heavy coat. "Gwen's proven she can lead the team. They'll get by without me."

Ianto almost stepped forward then, almost shouted loudly enough to be heard to the furthest corners of the Jade Palace: _What about me, Jack? Did you ever stop for a single solitary second to think about_ ** _me_** _?_ But he bit it back and swallowed it whole, clenching his fists tight at his sides with the effort — because he feared, because he ached, because he _loved_ , and Jack was happy, so happy in this moment of Ianto's silent suffering. 

KITT was studying Jack's face as if he'd never seen him before in his life. "You'd stay here," he said at last, slowly. _Considering_ , Ianto realized with another plunge of his heart. "With me. In a universe so much less diverse than your own, with no hope of going home again for over seven thousand years."

"In a heartbeat," Jack asserted. "I'm not going to risk losing you…" His tone turned teasing. "And besides, you know that if you turn me down I'll just stay and follow you wherever you go anyway. You can always use another soldier, right?"

A hum of rising energy rippled through the Mechan audience — part excitement, part consternation, dangerous in ways that sent a spike of cold adrenaline through Ianto's core. The threat of a mere Human, one who'd proven himself a warrior already, tracking their General without the General's leave… to them it was no joking matter, not at all.

KITT looked up, glancing toward the crowd to his right, and raised his left hand in a small sharp gesture: _Wait._ The menacing buildup of barely contained power paused, cycling on the verge of erupting into action. Not for the first time, Ianto marvelled at the degree of control KITT exercised over the androids who considered themselves his Children — and not for the first time, he was keenly aware that there were elements in the mix who only pretended respect and reverence, and whose obedience was probably lip service at best. 

 _And they sure as Hell won't like this._ He risked a glance round himself, resisting the urge to cringe under the combined weight of those implacable gazes. _They've been muttering about how close Jack is to KITT ever since we got here, and now Jack's gone and put his foot in it up to the hip! Damn him, why didn't he tell any of the rest of us, why didn't he ask us what we thought about —_

Ianto already knew the answer: because he was Jack Fucking Harkness, bigger than life, bolder than a pride of lions, prouder than seven musters of peacocks and blessed with about a hundred golden horseshoes up his perfectly contoured ass. Ianto knew all this as certainly as he knew that the sun would rise tomorrow morning. He knew it, and he adored it beyond all reason, and therefore he wasn't actually surprised when KITT looked up into Jack's face again, considered him for another small span of seconds, then reached up and took firm hold of Jack's right hand in turn. The room exploded in a flurry of whispering and muttering, of restless shifting in place and turning to their fellows, and one strident cry from the balcony — "He _dares?_ " — but KITT ignored them all, his attention entirely on Jack as he replicated the sequence of ritual touches: belly and "heart", throat and cheek, each nail in his coffin driven home with a kiss to the palm of Jack's hand. He spoke, his gaze and Jack's still deeply entwined, but the words were lost to Ianto's merely Human hearing in the general roar of disbelief and outrage, a roar that Ianto would have gladly taken part in if he hadn't still been convinced that opening his mouth would result in a swift and nasty death.

In all the chaos, one figure in particular caught Ianto's attention — simply because it was standing perfectly still. He looked up and to his right, to the position KITT had occupied at the balcony railing when he'd first shouted at Tiaro — and right into the cold carnelian eyes of KITT's Adjutant. The military-issue Mechan was at least a foot taller than Jack and broader than any two men, and usually completely devoid of emotional affect, but right now he was leaning on the railing and gazing down at Jack and KITT's intensely public and private moment as if it was the most enthralling thing he'd ever seen.

As heartsick and betrayed as Ianto felt ( _But he never told you he loved you, did he? He never made you any promises, not like this…_ ), he experienced an instinctive surge of something even more powerful: icy fear, slicing into his guts like a chilled steel knife. The Adjutant had killed his share of Humans in the course of a long and violent life, before becoming KITT's second in command and therefore bound to follow KITT's directive that no Human should be harmed without dire need… but in that impassive slab of a face Ianto could clearly see the anticipation of a wolf who was about to be given permission to kill again.

He'd thought he'd known what fear was, coming into this den of sentient machines, Human-haters every one.

Turns out he'd been mistaken, after all.

[THE END]

 


End file.
